The traditional paradigm for delivering advertisements in the stream of television programming is herein termed linked advertising. Whether the television programming service is being provided by antenna broadcast, analog cable, digital broadcast satellite (DBS), digital cable, switched digital video (SDV) or any other means, generally all viewers of a particular program will see the same ads in the same order at the same times. In essence, each advertisement is “linked” to a particular point within a particular program. If any particular viewer is not viewing the particular program at the particular time, he or she will not see the advertisement. That is, in linked advertising, the advertisements are simply part of the data stream from the head end, i.e., from the central office of the television service provider to all subscribers of that service.
However, with modern digital television service methods, including SDV systems (in which television service is received over the telephone lines) via very high speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and digital cable, both of which utilize the concept of addressable set top boxes (STBs), more personalized service is now available. For instance, in both types of systems, two-way communication between the subscribers set top box and the service provider via the network is possible. Further, the service provider can send different data to different subscribers. In telephone based systems such as SDV, the service provider can actually send different information to any individual subscriber.
In fact, in one embodiment, the VDSL television delivery standard essentially is an access network utilizing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) protocol. In digital cable systems, different data can be sent to different groups of customers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for delivering advertising via a network, such as a television service network.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus by which targeted advertisements can be inserted into the television program stream in a targeted fashion either by individual subscriber or group of subscribers on a network.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing targeted advertisements to individual subscribers or groups of subscribers on a network.